My mild OCD made itself known when I noticed that not all the indicators were properly illuminated. I embarked on a crusade in emerald green. It turned out that all the issues could be solved with three types of bulbs:

• W5W for the gauges - larger ones
• R5/T5 for the gauges - smaller ones
• T3 for the buttons

A pleasant surprise was that the problem with the infamous rubber caps that change the backlighting color is perfectly solved with colored bulbs. Two evenings later, the Forester looked like a Christmas tree:

A little fun fact: I advise against traveling with the instrument cluster disconnected. I ran out of W5W bulbs, slightly annoyed, I left a bunch of switches and the cluster on the desk and headed to my friendly auto supplies shop; that’s when I discovered that the alternator doesn’t charge when the gauges are not plugged in. :)

The culprit, peacefully sleeping on the desk, with its little hands politely pointing to zero (oh, irony, the only one working is the fuel gauge, and that’s almost at full).

• Forester
• Sg